The beginning of Harry's quilt

My niece and nephew (not siblings!) had cushions last year to celebrate their births, and it was really their pending arrival that got me into craft again. Their 1st birthdays aren't until August and November respectively, but I've started on their presents. Harry is younger, but I'm starting his first as it's easier and it's always good to have the practice! I have already bought the fabric for Amelia's though... not that I have a fabric addiction...

Both quilts are based on patterns in Elizabeth Hartman's book The Practical Guide to Patchwork - Harry's is based on the Small Plates pattern, although it's going to turn into a bit more of an I-Spy Quilt.

These are the first six blocks:

There are two of each of these, and there will also be the same number of blocks with a coloured centre block the same as the sashing, and a white border.

The solids are from a bundle at Backstitch and the patterned centres are from all over the place!

Hopefully it'll be finished by November, it's taken me ages so far to do 6 blocks....

Updates

Thank you so much to Beth for my Liebster award! I'm going to have a think and will pass it on later this week.

We're now a week back into term, and I can't decide when I have less time for sewing - holidays tend to get filled up with mundane things like cooking to fill the freezer and coursework, and termtime is just totally and utterly manic. I also think that I should probably spend more time on the housework rather than sewing, my mum described the house as looking "fine" last time that she was here - never a good thing!

All in all, sewing time has been limited. I've managed a few bits recently though, such as a pot holder housewarming present for my best friend made from my reunion charm pack - she's just moved into a stunning flat on the edge of the Olympic Park - I ran out of time to photograph the holder though.

I'm working on a handbag for a wedding on the bank holiday weekend too, I've got a gorgeous (and relatively cheap!) dress from Dotty P's so I decided to make a matching bag using the navy raindrops fabric and a kit from u~handbag. Hopefully pics of this will follow soon!

I do have pictures of my latest finish though, a baby blanket for my friend's little boy who is due any day I used the tutorial at fairyface designs, but made a few alterations - mainly because I was too lazy to bind it so i just flipped it inside out and topstitched. I also made rounded corners, I wasn't planning to but they called out to me whilst I was watching the Apprentice!

PS - please excuse the dodgy phone pics, I know this post wouldn't go up til next week if I waited to use the laptop!

Pink to make the girls wink!

Beautiful flowers from Hubs to celebrate our second wedding anniversary.

Easter weekend so far

Well, the morning after that grumpy post, I woke up with my hayfever going mental and setting off my asthma - obviously karma decided that if I was going to.complain, I should have something to complain about!

It's been a busy weekend so far. We spent a lovely afternoon with a good friend and her adorable kids- I still know all the words to the Lion King! I thought my arms ached from carrying Archie all the way round the park but the next day I realised that that was nothing after helping my BIL move from one flat to another. Ouch! Today has been a day of marking and we're out for dinner with friends tonight and tomorrow.

Sewing has been more successful too - I managed to get four blocks for Siblings Together that I'm happy with,

finished a "Big Sister" present for my friend's daughter



and I'm partway through making myself a Kindle cover based on Clover and Violet's tutorial.

Highs and Lows

Warning: grumpiness follows!

It's been a topsy turvy day so far...

Highs - getting new fabric! My brother gave me a gift voucher for Backstitch for my birthday (not a spontaneous choice I might add...) and I bought these:

Lows:
I've been trying to make some log cabin blocks for one of the group projects for Siblings Together, but they won't come out right. The first block came out 1/2" too small, then the second 1/4" too small. I checked the fabric sizes after the first one, but then realised that it's my seam allowances that are out :(

NB - I realised this when looking at my Half Moon Modern snuggle quilt - one row being 3" shorter than the other....

So I decided to stick the two together and use them as a little pot holder for my porridge for when I moan  like Goldilocks every morning! That's worked quite well, but the quilting and binding weren't as good as I was hoping.

How long does it take before the picture in my head comes anywhere near the real thing????
In the meantime, I guess it's a case of practice, practice, practice!

April Already!

I'm up nice and early this morning, looking at the sailing boats bopping around in the sea off the coast of Cornwall - who can sleep with a view like this?!?

Apparently, the answer is my husband! (sorry for the rubbish pic, my phone can't cope with this much sunshine!)

I decided to get in early on the fresh sewing day at Lily's Quilts so that I can go enjoy the sunshine.

Here's the last month's work:

A little present for my nephew to encourage him to eat his greens

Presents for my mum and a uni friend's newborn

And Hubby's nearly finished Birthday quilt

I've also started to make some blocks for Siblings Together, which is a brilliant charity. Follow the link for more info:

Here's my first attempt at a block.

And finally, some selfish sewing for me!

Happy April!

Sarah x

Ooooh, I forgot to tell you about one of my birthday presents! I got this:

by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh, Fransson and it is sooooo useful - I wish I'd had it earlier.